A European Union flag — and only an EU flag — will cover the coffin of Helmut Kohl on Saturday in an unprecedented ceremony to bid farewell to the father of German unification and European unity: an EU state funeral.

Arranging the official Abschied for the man who served as German chancellor for 16 years from 1982 has been complicated, in logistical and diplomatic terms: from unscrewing the first row of seats in the European Parliament in Strasbourg to make way for eight German soldiers to bear his outsized casket, to accommodating the conflicting wishes of Kohl’s divided family and the German political elite.

Since his death two weeks ago at his home in Ludwigshafen, Kohl has proved nearly as divisive in death as he was a unifying figure in life. It has taken two weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations by German, French and EU officials to create a ceremony fitting for his status, and that would satisfy his family — who didn’t want a German state funeral, according to media reports.

Kohl’s widow, Maike Kohl-Richter, had her own very strong ideas of how to bid him an official farewell.

Partly, it was because of Kohl’s difficult relationship with his party, the Christian Democrats (CDU), and with the protegé who hastened his downfall as CDU honorary chairman and then became party leader: Chancellor Angela Merkel, who later failed to give her wholehearted backing for his nomination for the Nobel prize. Kohl pointedly invited one of Merkel’s harshest critics, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, to his house in 2016 and his widow had to be talked out of having the controversial Hungarian prime minister speak at the funeral.

Maike Kohl-Richter (C), widow of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Salomon Korn, chairman of the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, and Kai Diekmann (L), former editor-in-chief of Germany’s newspaper “Bild” and close confidant of Kohl, look at a makeshift memorial of candles and flowers in front of Kohl’s house in Oggersheim near Ludwigshafen, western Germany, on June 18, 2017 | Arne Dedert/AFP via Getty Images

Kohl-Richter did get her way, however, with the line-up of international bigwigs who will give “personal farewell messages,” including Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will give the opening speeches at the two-hour “European Ceremony of Honor,” while Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will speak last, according to the official agenda.

The EU hopes for a dignified and incident-free ceremony, aware that it comes at “a hugely symbolic moment for the EU, when we are seeing renewed confidence that European integration will succeed,” said one Brussels official.

An EU diplomat said he “wouldn’t be surprised if Juncker played a role” in persuading Kohl’s family to exclude Orbán from (and, some say, include Merkel in) the list of speakers. Juncker, who considered Kohl a close friend and mentor, “would never have allowed this to shadow his relationship with Merkel,” the diplomat said.

“We lost the chancellor of German unity” — Jean-Claude Juncker

“We lost a faithful friend of the Commission,” Juncker told commissioners after Kohl passed away, according to sources present in the closed-door meeting. “We lost the chancellor of German unity,” added Juncker, who praised Kohl for being German and European “without falling into stupid patriotism.” He added: “We owe it to him that Europe was able to expand to Central and Eastern Europe.”

The ceremony may become a blueprint for EU state funerals in the future, though the number of institutions involved — the European Parliament as the official host, plus the Council and Commission, the German interior ministry and French authorities as the ceremony takes place on French soil — added layers of complication.

“Events like this are already a challenge on a national level,” one flustered EU official said. “You’ve got the appropriate state protocol, but there’s also an unwritten law to respect the family’s wishes.”

In true EU tradition, protocol and security issues were discussed and discussed again, all symbolic and practical angles were given thorough debate as were the needs and wishes of dozens of serving and former heads of state and government who will attend but have no official role in the ceremony. Each will have a private moment to say farewell.

john

Sbd

Did I miss the part of the article where we are told where the funeral will take place? (other than the vague “French soil”)

Posted on 6/30/17 | 10:37 AM CEST

FierEuropeen

Helmut Kohl was one of the greatest fathers of the EU integration. He was a true European until the end of is life. I am moved to see that he choose the EU flag over the German flag on is funeral, as it could not be other way for such a great Man. His place in our history is indelible.

Posted on 6/30/17 | 11:29 AM CEST

Greek

A great man, i consider him as more of a father to me, than my own father. His changes to the EU made it possible for me to study and pursue my international career worldwide. To give back to the EU and to Helmut Kohl’s progressive conservativism that invests in youth, i brought with the international department I head for a multinational several long term high paying jobs to pre-brexit London. (122 law/finance jobs). After a happy stay under John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, I moved out of the UK disgusted by the rise of UKIP and the fascism it represents in 2010, but also the Daily Mail, and Rupert Murdoch that now obviously can even appoint ministers… Instead we now run things out of Bratislava Slovakia and Vienna, Austria and pay taxes there.

The UK is heading in a deeply dysfunctional future because it has still not dealt with the aristocratic mentality and the delusions of empire that stop it from engaging as normal country in the EU. In my experience with working with brits, they often are less educated and able than they think. Especially products of the public school system. But the generations coming up now are positively vile. They don’t have the practicality and the deal making prowess of their forbears.

Helmut Kohl built up the EU to be the Noah’s arc for the age of globalisation, and soon it will need a military arm to complement the structure as the Brits and the USA have lost their minds. They have now absolutely proven that if there was no EU until now, we would have to create it now and very quickly. This is sensible and appropriate.

What the UK is doing with brexit, is almost banning rich europeans investing in London property. Why would i invest in a place that doesn’t want me and even excoriates me? Very foolish. Have you any idea how much of London’s prosperity is due to european funds?
I left greece because it was a provincial, overly traditionalist and christian and a nationalistic place with uncooth people in politics, and sadly the UK is heading in the same direction. This combination of self absorption, nationalism and delusion leads to bankruptcy. Not only moral but also literal.
fundamentally is the british refusal to deal with inequality. You guys really want to recreate the toryboy phenomenon with layabout privileged children of rich families. Something like Saudi Arabia without the oil. Good luck with it. Global Britain my old boot.

Posted on 6/30/17 | 5:28 PM CEST

Bosc

Will there be a part of the ceremony open to the public or everything will be behind closed doors for invited officials only?

Posted on 6/30/17 | 6:10 PM CEST

Victor

Shouldn’t it be “lays in superstate”?

He can’t lie himself down. He’s lain down by others. So. Lays in superstate.

Posted on 6/30/17 | 7:55 PM CEST

EUcitiZEN

@john
Thank you for your comment, it suits you as a person and I am sure you will only be remembered with love when you go sometime soon. Btw, have some dignity and leave, you won, get over it!

Posted on 7/1/17 | 10:23 AM CEST

Justice

Funerals are a great opportunity for questionable regimes to push their propaganda, the germans have a lot of experience with this.

Posted on 7/1/17 | 11:05 AM CEST

Andrea del B

Ambivalent is that Helmut would be appalled by what the Commission has become: a Political Correct institute that is implementing their own agenda while not representing the people.
For instance, an overwhelming majority of the EU people just don’t want madlim refugees. Like over 85%! Still, they manage to leak them in our countries with tens of thousands a month, even with the help of NGO’s like Doctors without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières who have become professional people smugglers with their ferries.
If anything, Kohl was from the people and for the people, not for a Political Correct agenda from a Utopia.
Now that the economy is on track again, many politicians forget the danger of the still looming disintegration of the EU. They only have limited time to fix the most urgent matters: our borders and the refugees.

Posted on 7/1/17 | 11:36 AM CEST

Vishnou

Thank you, John, for such an “inspired” and narrow-minded comment. Mind you, all creatures, good or bad, are doomed to “rot”. Before you come to that point, perhaps you could get hold of a dictionary to learn the meaning of the word “RESPECT”. It is easily spelled.

Posted on 7/1/17 | 12:14 PM CEST

bluebell

@John

what a vile, mean spirited thing to post

@Greek
I too appreciated Herr Kohl’s warmth and consideration of his fellow man.

However, I have no similar admiration for Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and particularly not with regard to John Major who, incidentally, did not constitutionally have it within his gift to sign Maastricht!

It is true the UK has a problem with inequality which is why, in large part, many in the UK chose to exit the EU in order that UK politicians could be held accountable for their actions (or inaction) and could no longer blame Brussels for their shortcomings. The people of the UK do not wish to live in a society run purely for the benefit of the oligarchs – it is a question of degree and where too much emphasis and preference lies, we need to restore the balance. As to UKIP it was a measure of the people’s desperation that UKIP was used as a tool to bring about a transformation and why it was quickly abandoned once they had achieved their objective. Hopefully we can restore balance and a sense of fairness in our society which will make the UK better for all citizens of whatever origins who live and work here.

Posted on 7/1/17 | 2:43 PM CEST

croc

RIP… If i was german though i would feel sad that it is not german flag on his coffin, i am sure he was great european but german first and i do find this funeral a bit of a show